


Burn the Rest of Us

by SilverShortyyy



Series: The Last Requiem [1]
Category: Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Funeral, Gen, Mourning, Post-Battle of Winterfell, Season/Series 08
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-29
Updated: 2019-04-29
Packaged: 2020-02-09 16:42:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 504
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18642025
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverShortyyy/pseuds/SilverShortyyy
Summary: Post-Battle of WinterfellSamwell Tarly and Jon Snow mourn the death of Edd Tollett. They burn him as he told them to, somewhat, but they burn him away from the rest of the corpses, and give him a Crow's funeral.





	Burn the Rest of Us

_"Last man standing, burn the rest of us."_

They don't have time to burn each person on a different pyre (and  really  , they don't need to burn the bodies anymore, do they  ?) but Daenerys allows Sam and Jon to burn Edd's body  separately  from the others.

They burn him in the Wolfswood, in a small clearing that may or may not have been there before. It's a small, two-person ceremony, since there isn't much of them left, and  really , it's only Sam and Jon left.

"It  was supposed  to be me, y'know," Sam says, his hand around the torch. On any other time, Sam's hold on the torch would be quite firmer, or Jon would hold it for him if Jon saw that Sam couldn't hold it. But neither of them could  possibly  hold it any tighter than Sam  loosely  holds it. "I was already on my back. I already accepted it."

Edd faced towards the sky, his face looking peaceful, so peaceful.

"Then the wight fell and Edd was behind it. Then Edd fell too."

Jon doesn't make empty promises of ' _I could have stopped it_ '. They could have died, and some did, and they knew that.

All of  them.

"He died fighting the realms of men." Jon feels the gaping hole in his chest. His heart beats, beats, beats, and he wonders why, why he's still alive, why he's still breathing. "And now his watch has ended."

It didn't matter that Jon was Aegon Targaryen. It didn't matter that he had  been named  the King in the North. It didn't matter that Daenerys might burn him alive for it, because what was a title to him if he didn't want it?

All Jon wishes for is for his family to be safe, for his friends to be safe, for the North to be safe, for all the people he loves to be alive.

Edd lies on a pyre, his skin cold, the dawn peeking past the trees and shining light on his head.

"And now his watch has ended." 

Sam lights half of the pyre before handing the torch to Jon. Jon lights the rest of it before standing next to Sam once again, watching as the fire burned, eclipsing the dawn.

Sam wonders if he could have saved Edd, in a different time. Somehow, some time, if there hadn't been so many wights and if there hadn't been so much blood. Blood, and death.

When Sam feels Jon's hand squeeze his shoulder, he knows there would have been no other way for things to have ended. Knows that there couldn't have been less wights. Knows there would always, always, be that much blood and death.

Sam closes his eyes and remembers  Gilly  and Little Sam.

_' Your death will not have been in vain.'_

Sam promises to the crackling flames and Jon swears to the dawn, to fight for the living, to fight for the future, and to guard the realms of men till their last breath, till their watch has ended .

**Author's Note:**

> I apologize if I was not able to give justice to Edd's death, but consider this my tribute to one of the deaths from the Battle of Winterfell. And now his watch has ended.


End file.
